


The Journey

by afrocurl



Category: Friday Night Lights
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-01
Updated: 2008-01-01
Packaged: 2018-02-13 12:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2150067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How do you describe something that only exists in a one house?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://mel-b-angel.livejournal.com/profile)[**mel_b_angel**](http://mel-b-angel.livejournal.com/) for the 2007 [](http://fnl-santa.livejournal.com/profile)[**fnl_santa**](http://fnl-santa.livejournal.com/). Thanks to [](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/)**starxd_sparrow** for the beta. At this point, all errors are mine.

The phone sent a shrill sound echoing off the walls of her small apartment. The agency that she was with had a call from some kid in Dillon who needed help with his grandmother.

She wondered about what these two would be like as she listened to the woman drone on.

-*-

He felt awkward after the phone call. Something told me that this was the start of something too new for him.

Given everything with Julie, however, he ignored the nagging feeling and waited for the nurse for Grandma to arrive.

-*-

She quietly knocked on the door, hoping not to make too much of a fuss on her first day.

Once she walked into the small house, however, that all changed. The house was a sty, and Grandma ate the vilest food she'd never seen.

Things had to change soon, or else she wasn’t going to last more than two days.

-*-

He wasn’t used to her presence in the house. She kept getting in his way—making him late for school three times in the first week alone.

It didn’t help that everything with Julie made being around any other attractive woman impossible. They weren’t friendly, so he couldn’t really ask for advice, and he didn’t need to ask Smash or Landry about it without sounding like Dillon’s biggest pussy.

-*-

She wasn’t sure what he did in his room after she worked out the kinks in his back after the game but she didn’t want to know.

-*-

The first time she did his laundry, she caught the largest smile on his face.

It made the day worth it.

-*-

The day she found his porn collection under the bed, she softened to him. He was no longer just the boy who hired her to look after his grandma, but a boy dealing with high school and football and his grandma.

She smiled as she teased him about it, knowing he wasn’t as perfect as she’d originally thought.

As the smell of mole traveled around the small house, Matt remembered why he loved spending so much time with her.

She didn’t care about how many passes he completed in a game, or how many interceptions he threw; she just cared that he was happy (and by extension, his grandma was happy.)

Once the mole had simmered long enough, she placed a plate in front of him before giving herself one.

They ate in silence, simply enjoying each other's company without Grandma’s interruptions.

-*-

He never quite understood why he loved the smell of her as much as he did. It had to be something about her, he decided, that came from not living in Dillon her whole life.

The smell of her shampoo and perfume never seemed to leave his room. Not that he really minded, but he worried that Grams would notice one day.

He tried to spray his room with cologne after she left each time—looking for anyway to throw off anyone else around the house.

-*-

Five weeks after they started sleeping together, he finally told Landry.

His friend gaped at the news mostly before slapping him on the back.

“Welcome to the club,” was his friend’s reply before leaving him in the hallway.

Matt wondered exactly when Landry had entered _the club_ , only to realize that it was better left to ask that question some other day.

Julie and Tyra walked down the hall, and Matt hoped that Landry had finally gotten that dream.

-*-

She started to make a Thursday night tradition—just the three of them. Something healthy, yet full of flavor, she’d said, so that he ate well and had strength for the game the following night.

Grandma though the gesture sweet, but Matt knew that Carlotta meant something else each week she cooked for him.

-*-

The day Matt asked Carlotta to teach him how to make Christmas tamales, she slapped him playfully across the arm before explaining that her family had never made them for Christmas. The difference between being Guatemalan and Mexican was lost on him.

He sulked for a moment, as the idea of warm tamales wafted away from him, before she suggested that she could teach him something else instead.

The idea of spending more time with Carlotta in the kitchen without Grandma getting suspicious agreed with him, but before they could settle on a date, Landry loudly knocked on the door and said they had to get to some practice Coach planned twenty minutes before this week’s game.

_Hopefully I won’t be covered in mud when I get back_ , he thought, as the pushed his way through the screen door and away from the person he wanted to spend the night with.


End file.
